Abstract
Subjective social class (that is, how Americans self-identify in terms of class) is discussed in terms of the influence it can hold on personal identity and social capital. From there, Jones examines the data in terms of social class. Subjective social class is shown to have strong associations for education, work, job satisfaction, family commitment, marital happiness, voluntary association, friendship and kinship socializing, trust, and other previously discussed social structures.
“The rich are different than you and me.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Yes—they have more money.”
Ernest Hemingway
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Notes
- 1.
Multiple sources report that Fitzgerald’s line is actually a quote from his story “The Rich Boy” and Hemingway’s retort is doctored from a dialogue in The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
- 2.
David B. Grusky, editor, Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective (Westview Press, 2014).
- 3.
Annette Lareau and Dalton Conley, editors, Social Class: How Does It Work? (Russell Sage Foundation, 2008).
- 4.
Annette Lareau, “Introduction: Taking Stock of Class,” Social Class: How Does It Work? Ibid., 4–5.
- 5.
Michael Hout, “How Class Works: Objective and Subjective Aspects of Class Since the 1970s,” Social Class: How Does It Work?, ibid., 29.
- 6.
Michael Hout, “How Class Works,” ibid., 32.
- 7.
Dalton Conley, “Reading Class Between the Lines (of This Volume): A Reflection on Why We should Stick to Folk Concepts of Social Class,” ibid., 367.
- 8.
For the main effect of decade, F = 50.328, p < .001; for the main effect of subjective class, F = 421.281, p < .001; for the interaction effect, F = 3.109, p = .001.
- 9.
For the main effect of decade, F = 3.501, p < .001; for the main effect of subjective social class, F = 190.070, p < .001.
- 10.
For the main effect of decade, F = 30.331, p < .001; for the main effect of subjective class, F = 40.423, p < .001; for the interaction effect, F = 7.496, p < .001.
- 11.
For the main effect of decade, F = 2.873, p = .035; for the main effect of subjective class, F = 70.717, p < .001.
- 12.
The simple percentage married dropped 24.7% in the working class and 3.4% in the upper class 1970s–2000s.
- 13.
For the main effect of subjective class, F = 187.397, p < .001; for the main effect of decade, F = 0.423, p = n.s.
- 14.
For the main effect of decade, F = 6.483, p < .001; for the interaction effect, F = 2.550, p < .006.
- 15.
For the main effect of subjective class, F = 15.281, p < .001; for the main effect of decade, F = 2.462, p = n.s.
- 16.
For the main effect of decade, F = 2.620, p = .049; for the interaction effect, F = 2.950, p = .002; for the main effect of social class, F = 301.930, p < .001.
- 17.
For the race-education interaction effect, F = 13.106, p < .001.
- 18.
For the main effect of education, F = 19.038, p < .001; for the main effect of race, F = 178.479, p < .001.
- 19.
For the interaction of decade and education, F = 6.394, p < .001.
- 20.
For the main effect of race, F = 235.677, p < .001.
- 21.
For the race-education interaction, F = 9.736, p = .002; for the main effect of race, F = 168.464, p < .001.
- 22.
For the main effect of race, F = 7.214, p < .001; for the main effect of education, F = 595.951, p < .001; for the main effect of decade, F = 17.596, p < .001.
- 23.
For the main effect of race, F = 1004.875, p < .001; for the interaction effect of race and decade, F = 5.244, p = .001; for the interaction effect of race and education, F = 15.010, p < .001.
- 24.
For the race-education-decade interaction effect, F = 5.253, p = .001.
- 25.
For the main effect of decade, F = 2.061, p = n.s.; for the main effect of race, F = 297.223, p < .001; for the race-decade interaction effect, F = 9.657, p < .001; for the race-education interaction effect, F = 15.692, p < .001; for the decade-education interaction effect, F = 4.009, p = .007.
References
Grusky, David B., editor, Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2014).
Lareau, Annette, and Dalton Conley, editors, Social Class: How Does It Work? (New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2008).
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Jones, B.J. (2019). Social Capital and Social Inequality. In: Social Capital in American Life. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91180-9_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91180-9_7
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